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My Subtropical Bird Garden

10,000 Birds

Every other year or so, we experience the lightest of frosts, nothing killing, and our warmest temperatures (in the 80s and 90s) occur in late spring. Jacaranda: The jacaranda, from Madagascar, is a spectacularly beautiful tree when in bloom here in March and April. My climate is very wet in the summer, and bone-dry in the winter.

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The Storks of Africa

10,000 Birds

Marabous have also learnt another trick, and that is to follow vultures and scavenge off the remains of Lion and other large predator kills. They have even been known to kill children who have been incautious enough to approach too closely. Its range also extends to nearby Madagascar.

Africa 245
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Frogs and Toads of the World: A Book Review by a Fairy Tale Junkie

10,000 Birds

Origins and classification describes the evolution of frogs from lobe-finned fishes; there are some gaps in the stages from fish to frog, but scientists have identified the earliest frog-like fossil as Triadobatrachus massinoti, a creature which lived in the area we know as Madagascar about 230 million years ago.

Reptiles 188
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Birding the Kruger Park (5): Pafuri area part 1

10,000 Birds

One study found that birds living in Botswana had elevated levels of lead in their bloodstreams during hunting season, presumably coming from lead bullets used on animals killed by hunters. .” (HBW). Other – sadly rather common – reasons are habitat loss due to agricultural expansion and the use of some veterinary drugs.

Elephants 147
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The five most unique birds in the world

10,000 Birds

The Cuckoo Roller — today found only in Madagascar and Comoros — is an oddball bird with a puffy head and a chameleon-eating habit. The Secretarybird is a powerful, long-legged terrestrial hunter particularly well known for killing snakes by stamping them to death but also perfectly happy to consume other animal prey.

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Extinction Week Recap

10,000 Birds

The prehistoric extinctions most famously include the megafaunal assemblages of Europe, the Americas, Australia and Madagascar. The Mysterious Starling – “Killed Hopping About in a Tree”. It’s when we lost the mammoths, the sabre-tooth cats, the giant ground sloths, the elephant birds, the marsupial lions, and other iconic giants.

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Come@Me: Don’t Mourn for Extinct Birds

10,000 Birds

A bit of background: Pink Pigeons are medium-sized, pink/gray/ brown birds found on the island of Mauritius, Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. A foot deep by some accounts, it killed what life was left in the forest. Pink pigeon near Le Pétrin, Mauritius by Michael Hanselmann, used under Creative Commons license.

Mauritius 102